the wicked avatar
by versago the destroyer
Summary: Azula escapes from the mental institution in which she was held, not for revenge but to achieve a new life, one day she runs into a person similar to her, who is that person? and where could this encounter lead. Azula x Kuzon.
1. prologue

Well this is the first part of what I hope will be a long and enjoyable story.

Disclaimer: I do not own avatar the last airbender. T_T

hey guys this is my first attempt of a fic, I hope you all like it...even though it's kinda fuzzy, but hey practice makes the master right?

This story is dedicated to KatAangFan4Life. for in your stories I found the courage of making one of my own.

Prologue

I had been three years since the end of the war, three years of peace and prosperity for the world.

The scars left by the horrors of the war were deep, but they had started to heal slowly. It was now a time in which everybody could follow their path to a peaceful life, except for those for which life was war itself.

Life was full of prosperity for everybody in the three nations specially for the ones that had brought that long-waited peace. The well-known team avatar had dissipated and each one of it's members was now trying to build their lives, while keeping in touch of course. Aang and Katara now lived together in the southern air temple trying to recover some of the ancient glory of the airbenders, Sokka and Suki now lived together in Kyoshi island, Toph moved to Ba Sing Se where she owns an earthbending school, Zuko is now firelord and about a year and a half he married Mai who is now only two months away of giving birth to their first child.

Life was good overall, but among all that happiness there was a single being lost in a sea of torment, a sea of her own making. And she knew all to well that she had brought all that upon herself. All the pride and ego-centrism she had were now turned into shame and sorrow.

The once powerful and ruthless princes of the fire nation was now reduced to a common wanderer. Before she was locked into that mental institute in which she was concealed for two years, the avatar had taken away her ability to firebend, and that, besides of taking away one of the greater aspects of her life, also awakened new found emotions within her. Shame, sorrow, loneliness. All those emotions that were buried deep beneath her obsession for power have busted inside of her soul causing her to overcome the madness that had taken over her.

A single figure stand in the middle of a road during a rainy day that brought to her images of the past. It made her remember things that she wanted to forget, things that will never leave her. Has it really been that long since that day? She wondered, while looking at the rain falling.

For two long years she was locked in the mental institute alone with her toughs and the periodic visits of the various nurses and doctors.

Hearing the relentless echoes of the world outside her small room, she stood up all nights until very late hours in the morning, this was however no act of madness, she stood up so many hours reviving the memories of her past mistakes, memories that tormented her relentlessly every night, robing from her the blessing of sleep.

The doctors and nurses watch this behavior and reported to the firelord who constantly asked about her progress that she wasn't showing any chances of recovery. Sadden by this news the firelord just walked away with the hope of seeing his sister getting "better". Although a part of him still thought that she deserved such fate.

During the two years that she was held in the mental institution she was constantly mocked and brutally beat by many members of the institution, who find amusing to torment one who had caused so much pain to others. One night she decided to scape utilizing the branch of opportunity that was left between the shifts of the guards and nurses.

It was a rainy night, the sky was roaring with thunder. She waited in her room until it was ten o'clock at that time she forced the door open by jamming it with a fork that she has saved for that night.

As she quietly left her room, she was happy that the avatar had only taken away her ability to bend and not her agility. She quietly moved trough the hallways almost running into a guard from time to time. She continued the same way trough the enormous building until she found a great door which she automatically figured was her way out. she opened the great door while being very cautious no to make any sound, she was almost done pushing the door when an alarm started to sound alerting the guards who rushed to the entrance and spotted Azula while she was running away, and immediately started chasing after her.

For hours she was relentlessly chased across the rain into a forest in which her superior agility favored her. But even though she was putting some distance in between the guards and her she could not use her bending which put her in a though spot because most of the guards were firebenders.

Many minutes passed and exhaustion overrun her body, her speed began to decrease, her strength was leaving her, but there was a small light inside of her that keep her going, a whisper inside of her mind and heart, a little voice that whispered the words "freedom" and "redemption" the though gave her enough strength to keep going onward, as she kept running one of the guards grew tired of chasing her an started to trow fire balls at her. Even though the other guard objected to the method he couldn't do much against it since he was of a low rank. As the guard kept shooting at her he realized that they were heading to a cliff, when Azula realized this, she was faced with a choice, let the guards capture her and take her back to that horrible place or jump off an try survive the fall, there wasn't much time to decide, in that moment the sharp pain run trough her, one of the fire balls had hit her in the back of her right shoulder. In that moment she decided and without even looking she jumped off, the guards stopped on their tracks and only watch her fall to the thick forest below.

As she fell she knew that the chances of survival were slim, the only thing she could do was protect her head as as every second drove her the trees whose branches knocked her unconscious. The following day, a ray of light reached the beaten face of a lone figure in the middle of a forest, and as one drop of water made it's way down form a leaf and splashed on her face, she opened her eyes gazing to the light that came filtered from among the broken branches of the trees that she hit on her way down, these branches had hurt her body but they had also saved her life. For a long time she just laid there trying to process all that had happened, and as she did a single whisper escaped from her lips, "I'm alive?".

End of prologue.

Well that's is some long introduction, but I wanted to put every character somewhere and since this is a story about Azula everything was about her.

Now guys I'm a sensitive person, but I think I can take some suggestions.

If you don't comment I'm not going to upload sob, sob sob. Keep in touch if you want to know why the story is called "the wicked avatar" so long and thank you for reading. YOU ALL ROCK!


	2. wandering thoughts

Hi there, here's chapter 2 !!!

disclaimer: I do not own avatar: the last airbender. T_T why, why, WHY!!!?........oh well, enjoy.

It had been some days after her scape, she had taken refuge in the woods in which she had fallen on that fateful night, the tall trees provided her with cover and also some food. She had been there for some days, trying to give her body the chance to rest and heal.

She knew all too well that during the first days after her scape the guards would be searching every single town or village that was nearby, so remaining in the woods for at least a week was her best option at the moment, she found herself in a variety of dilemmas, her body was very hurt from the fall, and even though that was a serious matter, it wasn't the worst of her problems. She was still in the fire nation, where every one could recognize her, if she ran into somebody they would immediately recognize her and she would have to face confinement once more.

She knew that to have any chance of a new start she had to leave the fire nation. Knowing this she just waited and recovered for a couple of days. A week had pass and most of her injuries were healed, she now felt strong enough to leave the forest, but she knew that any one could notice her just by looking at her garments, and so she decided to search for new clothing in a town nearby.

Moving with precision and awareness she was very careful not to let anyone spot her, as she continued her search moving trough the edges of the town until she came across that what she was looking for, she found some unattended clothes in somebody's back yard, she carefully approached them and after a quick inspection she knew that these clothes will fit her and probably would make it hard to others to recognize her.

After a quick change she searched the town looking for information of how to leave the fire nation, fortunately for her the new clothes were hiding her identity quite well, so she could move among town folk without being recognized, as she walked she overheard some men talking about a commercial ship that was soon to leave to the earth kingdom, she could not believe how much the world had changed in just two years, some years ago the earth kingdom was the worst enemy of the fire nation and now they were doing business together, peace had indeed arrived to stay, this though however wasn't something that she disliked, in fact she was relieved that the fire nation wasn't successful in their attempts to conquer everything in their path.......that SHE wasn't successful in her previous attempts.

As soon as she heard the news she knew that she had to locate the ship, for it was the best chance she had. For hours she searched for the docks until she came across the sight of the massive cargo ship, she contemplated the ship for a while thinking that in such a big ship she actually had a chance of going unrecognized. She remained in the nearby locations trying to gather as much information as possible about the ship and what it's cargo is.

As she walked around she found some guards talking about the time that the ship would set sail and what the cargo was. And just when she though that she had all the information she needed, a third matter emerged in the conversation.

"have you heard? The princess escaped from the institution in which she was confined" one of the guards said to the other two.

"They say that she is even more dangerous than before" added the female guard.

"rumor says that she might be nearby this area" said the higher rank officer.

"I also heard that the firelord offered a reward to whoever might capture her" replied the female guard

"and being a reward from the firelord himself it must be quite a lot" she added.

Azula went back to the dock where the ship was waiting to sail, she knew that at sea she must be more careful not to give away her identity. Even though her new found feelings were somewhat hurt by the news that Zuko had placed a bounty on her, she didn't though that it was wrong after all she had done so many terrible things in the past that she would have put a dead or alive bounty on herself.

The ship was to sail in an hour, and Azula was already inside of it hiding among the cargo, she knew that it was going to be a long trip to the earth kingdom, but if she had endured two years of being in that horrible place, she could take some days hiding in a ship.

As time went by she was laying on the enormous wood boxes looking at the sealing thinking of what she would do once in the earth kingdom, she knew that she was very infamous among the people of the earth kingdom, who were the people that she had hurt the most.

Hurt........hurt........that word that was repeating in her mind whenever she though about her past, she remembered all the people that had she had hurt because of her pride and greed, her mother, her brother her best "friends", her former servants, honest people trough the whole world whose only crime where stand in between her and power.

The memories of her past deeds was a bitter and relentless, purgatory of self inflicted torment that hurt more than any physical wound, it was such a horrible thing to revive every day, but those memories were the only thing she had now, for she had relinquished every single thing that could have made her happy, holding into these memories was her own way to punish herself for all her crimes. The toughs in her mind intensified, the non stopping images where flowing in front of her eyes, and yet again she found herself staring at the darkness of the night without the privilege of a peaceful sleep.

The memories transformed into thoughts, the thoughts into images, the images into pain, and the pain into words.

"How can somebody that has caused so much pain, ever hope to achieve forgiveness and peace?" were her last words before finally falling asleep.

Chapter 2 end.

Well there you have it. Come on people let me know what you think.

You know the drill _**REVIEW!!**_ and if you want, give me some advise cuz we can never have enough improvement.

O.K guys til chapter 3 YOU ARE THE BEST.


	3. one step at a time for a new fall

Hi there, chapter 3 is finally here. At last! who would had though that making a story would be so hard for a lazy person.

Disclaimer: I do not own avatar: the last air bender. T_T

Chapter 3- first steps

It had been a week since she boarded the ship, every second drove her closer to the place that she once conquered, the earth kingdom. She didn't had much trouble in keeping herself hidden from whoever might come across the cargo room where she was hidden.

But keeping herself from others wasn't her main concern right now, after so many days of eating nothing more than what she needed to remain alive, her body wasn't in a very good state, she felt weak and didn't had much energy.

"i don't know how much longer I can last like this" she said to herself while gazing at her trembling hand.

Hours passed by, and the only thing she did was lying in the darkness of the room, the lack of energy forced her eyes to close and so, she fell asleep. After a couple of hours the sound of the captain's voice's echoed.

"prepare everything we'll be docking shortly"

her eyes widened and she made her way out of the cargo room as quickly as her weakened body allowed her.

Mixing among the crew that was too busy to notice her, she made her way to the deck where she saw the shore growing closer to her with every second , as the ship approached to the port she wondered how she will live from now on.

After some minutes the ship was anchored and the crew was unloading the cargo, she took this opportunity to get off the ship before anyone noticed her. Taking her first steps on the land that she once conquered in the name of her ambition she now laugh at the irony of being the one in need of this very land to survive, a land that she almost destroyed along with her father.

As she walked away from the port, she once again tough of the many dilemmas she was facing, getting food and shelter was her first concern but not the only one. She needed money, and with absolutely no skill at all in any job she blamed herself for never doing anything on her own except for worrying about power. However this was not the time to regret the past, for her needs on the very moment could not be delayed by her visions of the times that were no more.

She walked around town for about half an hour looking for a place where she could work until she came across a market. Where she decided to try her luck. She moved across the various shops looking for a simple job that didn't require much experience, she kept searching until she found a fruit shop that happened to have a "help wanted poster". She looked at the place for a short moment and though

"_maybe this place will do"_

she approached the shop and directed her attention to the woman who apparently was the owner. Who immediately turned around to face her.

"What is it child?" the elderly woman asked kindly.

"I...I...wanted... she said in a very low tone.

"Huh?" Replied the shop owner who realized that Azula was trying to conceal her face.

"are you here for looking for a job child"

"y...yes" replied Azula showing a bit of eagerness in her voice.

"good, good, I need a lot of help, my son used to help me in his time off but now he isn't here anymore and it appears that no one has interests in helping an old woman like me in such a simple job, but don't mind me". She said in a jokey tone.

"so, tell me child what is your name?

Azula was shocked, she never thought about a name, obviously she couldn't give her own name for it would automatically give her away. She didn't had much time to come up with a name, and she didn't want the old lady to think that she had anything to hide. So she told her the first name she could think of.

"My name is... Ursa"

"pleased to meet you Ursa, my name is Shu".

"so do you have any type of experience?"

"no" replied azula

"well it doesn't matter, in order to acquire experience you have to begin at some point".

"Alright Ursa the job is yours"

"so when can you begging?"

"immediately!" replied Azula.

"he he, such eagerness, I wish I had your youth. Said the old lady with a smile on her face".

"Oh well I guess that tomorrow will be a good day to begin" said Shu taking a look at azula.

"but it's not even late, why would you close your shop at this time?" asked azula.

"well we could continue but, judging by how tired you look it seems that you could use some rest before you star working. Why don't you go home and rest.

"Well the thing is that I don't have a place to go to"

"well you should have said that in the first place. You can stay in my house all the time you want" said shu with a big smile on her face.

Azula was shocked, she never though that she would find such a kind person. And even more surprising one that was willing to accept her even in her own house.

Azula bowed respectfully in front of her as a sing of gratitude.

"Well, shall we go? Asked the elderly woman while she walked away.

"y...yes" replied Azula while following along.

While they walked, shu was trying to make a conversation but her words fell on closed ears as azula was suffering the toll of her lack of energy. Getting weaker with each step azula though that she would faint before arriving to the house, as some more minutes passed by they finally came across the view of Shu's house.

"Well here we are" announced Shu while inviting Azula inside.

Her house was somewhat small, but it also transmitted something, something that azula haven't felt in many years, the feeling of warmness, the feeling of home.

As she took the first steps inside the house, the lack of strength made crumble and almost fall. Shu cached her and help her to the dining room, as Shu helped her to sit she took a look at her.

"Poor thing it seems that you haven't eat well in a while, but don't worry I'll be back in no time with a meal that you'll just love".

Azula was siting in the small chair looking at the small room thinking how lucky she was to find such a kind person.

About five minutes passed and Shu returned with a huge plate of food that she placed in front of Azula.

"Here you go Ursa eat as much as you want".

Azula barely looked at the food before grabbing as much of it as she could fit in her hands and put it in her mouth all at once.

"Easy now child the food won't go anywhere" said shu looking at how azula eat the food with such...er...passion.

In about 7 minutes there were no traces of the food in the plate.

"Well you seem better now ursa"

"yes thank you" replied azula

"well, glad to hear" said shu

"follow me ursa" said shu, and as azula stood up and followed shu pointed various places of the house.

"this is your room, and there's the bathroom also there you can find some clean clothes you can use.

"well i'll go to sleep, make yourself at home" said shu while walking towards her room.

Azula entered the room and went to the bathroom, and as she undressed she reviewed all the events that had occur in that day.

"if I hadn't found this kind person who knows where I would be now".

As she cleaned her body she allowed herself to relax a little trying not to think about the thoughts that had been overrunning her mind lately.

After about 15 minutes she was done with the bath, in clean clothes and ready to sleep. As she walked to her new bed she gave herself the hope that things could get better in the future if she worked hard enough. She pulled the blankets and entered the comfortable bed, comfort that she hadn't fell in a long time. And without any though of the bad days in the past she could finally find warm respite in a deep sleep.

She slept pleasantly until the sound of some one walking near her room awakened her, the sun was already rising and she had rested more than she had anticipated. Surprised by the fact that she didn't had any nightmares she left the bed and walked towards the door and just as she stretched her hand to reach the doorknob the door suddenly opened.

Azula took a step back to have a good look at the perpetrator, and as her eyes accustomed to the light of the candle she recognized shu.

"Come on get ready ursa it's time to go to the shop."

"oh, so early?" replied azula.

"Yes my dear, you see there was a motive for going to bed so early."

"oh well, just give me a second to get ready" she said while going back to her room.

She changed into her clothes quickly and went outside the room.

"Im ready"

"Oh good" shall we go.

As they went out of the house and walked for some minutes the they talked about various things.

As they continued to talk azula though how shu had avoided asking her where she came from, maybe it was her way of letting her know that she had no rush in pressuring her into giving any kind of information that would made her feel uncomfortable.

As the view of the marked appeared on the horizon azula though of how short the road was now that she had rested.

"Well let's us begging" said shu while starting to open the store's doors.

Azula helped her and in about half an hour the market place was full of merchants and customers.

Very little explanation was needed to begin and she did so immediately. Many hours and customers passed by and to her surprise she had made very little mistakes, surprised for her new-found ability to use her hands to do her own job azula felt new feelings whenever she did something well. Those feelings of self-accomplishment were a nice change in her inner world that had now given the first step in creating a new life.

After may hours it was time to go home, the two closed the shop and went home and little by little azula began to leave behind that serious and tortured expression off her face.

Many days passed by and azula was starting to develop a deep friendship with shu, the two now shared many things to talk about, many different themes had been discussed by the pair after work and in the evening of one day as they talked in the living room azula suddenly remembered that shu had mentioned that she had a son, curiosity overrun her and she could not resist asking.

"Hey shu". Azula called.

"Yes ursa?"

"You once said that you have a son, where is he?". Azula asked with a bit of interest.

A momentary silence filled the room for an instant.

"My son..." said shu with a bit of bitterness on her voice as she reached for a picture she always carried in a necklace. "he was a soldier of the army of ba sing se. she said while looking at the hand-drawn picture.

"Was? Why do you say that? Isn't he in the army anymore?

"No...my son...died when ba sing se was attacked by that huge drill from the fire nation. She said while her eyes filled with tears.

Azula felt her heart stopping inside her chest, it couldn't be, even here the scars of the past still followed her. She couldn't believe that fate could be so merciless, this person that had helped her so much, this person that had brought her to her house in exchange for nothing was one of the many people that she had scarred for life with her actions.

Azula felt her forehead getting heavier with remorse and shame, she looked down and began to cry.

"I'm sorry" said azula.

"Sorry? About what" said shu with a smile on her face while she wiped the tears off her face.

"It is trully a painful memory but it is already in the past, we must live onward and never let go of our beloved ones. My dear son I know that I'll see him again one day, so please stop with the sad faces and help me with dinner. She said smiling.

Azula was shocked, how could she withstand such loss and still see life so positively, truly shu was a remarkable woman. Azula stood up an wiped the tears off her face and went to help shu prepare the dinner, (even though she wasn't the best of cooks).

"_I will do my best in repaying her, it is the least I can do for her"_ though azula.

After 2 weeks of the same routine azula had become more cheerful and open to all that surround her, even though the stain of guilt in her memory was still present. And as she gazed towards the cloudy sky she took a deep breath and continued to work.

After a few hours of work she felt more cheerful an energized "i never though that working could be so invigorating" though azula while she passed a bag of fruits to an old man, who thanked her with a smile, and as he left azula wished him a safe trip home (for the first time in her life).

Later that day a young woman went to the shop and asked for some fruits that had run out from the display in the store front, shu asked azula to bring some of the same that were stored in the back part of the shop, it took her only a couple of minutes to go and come back and as she came out of the little room azula's eyes meet with those of the young woman a chill went trough her back as she saw in shock the face of the very same woman she had banished the day of her crowning.

The woman's eyes widen in shock as she took a more careful look to see if her eyes were not deceiving her, but it was impossible that she could mistake the face of the person that put her trough the worst of her life.

A very awkward silence that lasted for a very little time was suddenly broken by the words of tat woman, who could only said out loud "princess azula!".

Time appeared to had frozen, until all of a sudden a huge commotion lead the sights of everyone in the market towards azula.

"It is her, princess azula of the fire nation". The woman claimed. As every last person started to get near the little store.

The voices where coming from everywhere.

"_princess azula the one who took ba sing se"._

"_azula, princess of the fire nation"._

"_the one who almost enslave our country"._

It was overwhelming, everyone in there now knew who she was, in that moment she turned around to see the astonished face of shu who couldn't even speak. There was nothing that azula could say, no apology would had been enough.

In that moment some guards that were guarding the area were approaching the turmoil to see what was causing it. And as they reached the center they saw the face of the person everyone was looking for.

"What's going on in here?" one of the guards asked.

"Guard its princess azula from the fire nation".

"huh! Is she?"

"yes the one with the huge bounty on her"

"well im sure that the fire lord will love to have his sister back, but first we will make you pay for what you did to our nation".

Azula was trapped, the large number of people was blocking every visible way out, as they were getting closer she started to give up hope "_what is the point in running away if they will just find me again anyways" _she though, and in that moment she felt someone's hand getting hold of her wrist , she turned and saw shu pulling her and leading her to a back door in the storage room of the shop.

Shu pushed azula out of the shop. ''Run! There's no time to waste" she told her. "But I-" JUST GO! And without a moment to spare azula started to run, soon after she looked back to see the enraged bunch of people following her and getting a hold of shu.

She ran as fast as she could, yet again was she forced to run for her life. This time leaving behind the only person she could call a friend since a long time.

Chapter 3 end. 

Phew! That took a while sorry for the delay. Well til next one I hope that you like the chapter, please review.


	4. rain of mercylessness

Chapter 4!

hi there, as always I have to state my poverty saying: ahem... I do not own own Avatar: the Last Airbender. With that clear, let's us continue.

A long time passed since she began to run, the clouds that were gathering before where now letting rain fall down the cruel scene, Azula ran trough the forest with the people from the village following her closely. Thunder roared as some of her chasers used earthbending to trow rocks at her, and while some of them missed her by inches and some others were dogged she wasn't as lucky with all of them, for some of the rocks reached her back hitting her with abominable force that made her lose balance yet not made her fall.

Several more minutes had passed and she was still on the run, some of the villagers were tired and stopped the chase wile leaving fewer pursuers every time, the ones that were left were still following her relentlessly in under the heavy amount of rain that was now falling, the number of earthbenders had decreased but some were still attacking her very successfully at times for her demise.

With her body injured, scarred and bleeding by the many rocks that had stroked her and with her speed fading as the tremendous pain that was overrunning her in that moment, she knew that she was running, yet she did not felt any strength left in her body, she was now moving out of sheer will power.

The chase continued to reveal a clearer vision in the area in front, suddenly she found herself in front of a river fueled by the torrential rain that blocked her path for it's current was to strong to swim trough and there was no time to go around it "this is as far as you go, your _highness" _one of her pursuers said as the furious bunch of people surrounded her. "you will not scape us this time, it is only fair that we make you suffer as much as you did to us" one of the earthbenders said as he used his bending to pull a rock from the ground and made it orbit above his hand. "remember that we must take her alive or else there will be no reward" one of the men said to the furious looking earthbender. "oh I will not _kill_ her, I plan on enjoying this as much as I can".

While they talked and approached towards her locking her in between the human wall with their eyes filled with wrath and blood-lust and the violent current of the river behind, she was motionless not because of fear or anything of the sort but for her lack of strength, she knew that in such deplorable situation she would be unable to fight so many adversaries much less talking her way out of the situation, she had never being a fan of participating in lost arguments or shielding herself behind petty excuses, for nothing she could say would heal the scars left by her deeds. In the heat of the moment she realized that the only two options were: to let them do with her as they pleased or trow herself into the river and see if she could made it.

Their menacing approach was leaving less time and space to do anything, suddenly she had made her choice, taking some steps back she took a quick look at her sides "what do you think you're doing girl!" where the words of an earthbender that watched her leap into the turbulent waters.

She was struggling in the water that did not showed any mercy at her as it violently smashed her body against the rocks in it, the pursuers just watched her drifting away fighting for her life against the merciless river that pulled her down so that she was no longer for any eye to see.

"She won't make it" were the words of a man that looked somewhat displeased.

"Such a pity it was a huge reward, but we still have to settle our score with that traitor Shu for helping her out." one of the men said as they leave the river side with empty hands and thirst for revenge.

While they left, in a lower part of the river Azula's body was being brutally slammed in every direction and against every obstacle possible yet it was not lifeless the former princess was still fighting and holding on to life, the reason was unknown even by herself, it would have been so easy to let the river take her life and all her suffering along with it, were the thoughts of that part of herself that was already giving up, yet she would not listen to that, not now, not ever.

The river dragged her kilometers down until she reached a place with a low level and could crawl to the river side while she lied for some minutes. She had survived yet again, after catching a second wind for a brief moment, she stood up, and as she moved she felt a sharp pain run trough her whole body, she could barely withstand it let alone walk, she felt the many injuries across her body as one big wound that didn't stop to hurt, specially her left arm which she grabbed in multiple places just to find that it was broken.

Yet little could be done in the very moment for the rain had not yet ceased and the sun would go down in a few hours, her best option was to endure the pain and find a pace where she could treat her wounds and rest, and so she started to walk in the search of place that she might not find, a place where she could rest.

For a long and agonizing time she walked trough the trees and the rain, and in a certain point she stopped and directed her sight to the sky, letting the drops of fresh water that fell from the trees nuzzle her face, such soft and loving feeling transported her mind to the time when her mother covered her before sleeping and nuzzled her face with the warmness that only a mother could give.

Under the rain, alone, she drifted in a stream of memories of the days that were no more, the time when she had everything that she did not desired: love, friends family, home all that which she tossed away for nothing. What she wouldn't give in that moment just to feel that once more.

After that seemingly brief moment she started to walk again, with the sun almost gone time was of the essence, she continued to walk until she faced a large rocky mountain, she decided to inspect the great boulder to see if she could find any shelter among the rocks. After some time she came across a great dark cave "_this place will do" _she said as she entered the darkness of the large cave, yet after her previous ordeal and her lack of strength her fate was unknown, she advanced trough the darkness to find a place where she could rest as well as inspecting if there was a potential treat that was also sheltering there from the rain. As she proceeded trough the surprisingly large cavern she saw what was seemingly a flame in the depths of the cave, weak, cold and in the verge of collapse as she was, this was no short of a miracle, yet it was unknown who had started the fire, but at the same time there was no one to be seen near it, she seated aside the fire were she was about to treat her broken arm.

"who goes there?" a voice said coming from the back of the cave that almost scared the life out of azula who felt a paralyzing chill trough her back. She quickly turned to see the form of a young man getting closer to her, she tried to stand but she was completely devoid of strength, and with the inability to stand up she could just drag herself in a desperate attempt to scape the unknown man who silently approached her.

The silent approach filled her with even more despair, as she used her right arm to move as fast as she could she was on her limit of her strength, she saw powerlessly how the silent hand of that man approached her imminently towards her, "please...do not harm me" she said as all strength left her body and made her collapse on her back unconscious, to an unknown fate.

Chapter 4 end.

Well this is getting interesting, if I can say so myself. :)

thank you for reading. Comment! see you in next chapter. And hasta la vista.


	5. nihilistic purgatory

Chapter 5.

Hooray! it's five already, they grow up so fast...sob... But enough of that let's get to business by saying ahem, DISCLAIMER: I don not own: Avatar the Last Airbender. Life can be cruel right?. T_T

There was darkness in every direction she could see, yet there she was, floating in an estrange world of nothingness, there was no pain or peace to be felt, it was truly an indescribable feeling. There was no agony or temperance, she felt the urge of screaming yet her voice was silent. Searching her memory for recent events there was only one thing to suspect, only one question filled her mind in that moment "_am I dead_?" She though as she drifted trough the void, she continued to just let the nihilistic current carry her to whatever destination it could have, it did not matter any more.

Time passed by and Azula just laid there until a bright light engulfed her. Suddenly she was standing in the backyard of the fire nation's royal palace, after a moment of shock she started to walk and look around, she continued to walk until she found a scene that she could not believe, there she was staring at her younger self the day that she decided to play that "prank" on Mai and Zuko, that ended badly for everyone but herself, she saw her actions from a different point of view now, how sorry she was when she saw how she pushed Ty Lee just because she was better than her in acrobatics. Or when she almost set Mai's hair on fire, she saw her younger self enjoying the suffering of others as if it was some sort of very twisted game. Witnessing those pat events just made her feel extremely ashamed of herself. "I can't believe how foolish I was" she said while she turned away.

As she took the first steps walking away from the scene, the same bright light from before engulfed her again. After a brief moment of confusion she found herself in Zuko's room the night that she was bothering him about how their father was going to kill him. As she saw the living memories in front of her, the inner wrath towards herself was growing exponentially, until she heard a familiar voice. "What's going on in here" questioned the all too familiar voice. Azula turned to see the face of her mother, Azula's heart skipped a beat when her eyes meet her mother's face, mixed feelings of shame and happiness filled her as she saw the figure of the one who gave her life walk towards her. As Ursa got closer step by step Azula did not know how to react, she wished to feel her mothers warmth at last once more, yet her mother was one of the many that she had hurt with her actions.

There they were just inches away, Azula could almost feel her mother's scent, and in just that instant unknown to her, she had opened her arms to hug her mother. Waiting for the warm respite that awaited her in the arms of her mother she whispered "mom I'm sorry, I have been a fool can you ever forgi-" her words were cut short with astonishment, when the figure of her mother walked right trough her as if her body was made of mist. As the event continued and Ursa took the younger Azula to scold her, the older Azula just stood there motionless, and as she saw Ursa taking her younger self away, she bit her lower lip and closed her eyes filled with tears. _"Why didn't I realize sooner, that I always had everything any one could ever wish for? Yet I was so blind, that I tossed it all away, and just for what? for all the power that was mine for a second and then turned it's face away. I'm such a fool". _She told to herself .

The sound of water raging around herself made her open her eyes, just to find herself in the middle of a maelstrom of images from the past. There she was, facing all the wrongs of her life, all around her were the images that were the source of all her anguish. She looked at them with bitterness in her heart. "if this is my ultimate punishment then...it is just fair" she said to herself wile she left the black hole in the bottom of the vortex swallow her. For she had already relinquished all hope.

Time passed by, she opened her yes only to see that she was floating in the same nothingness as before.

Lonely, in despair and desolated, there was nothing else to be done. She did not knew where she was nor did it matter any more. The feeling of hopelessness invaded her whole being, and so she began to cry out of despair. She did so until her eyes run dry of tears yet it did not happen, and she just laid in the strange darkness for time to do with her as it pleased.

Time passed by and she just drifted in her thoughts, until something strange happened, there was a feeling of warmness in her forehead that she haven't felt in many years. The light had yet again come to take her to an unknown place but this time it was nowhere she could recognize. She looked down to see her body laying in soft grass, then she looked front to see her mother's face, who had placed Azula's head in her lap and was nuzzling her face and hair. "Did you sleep well my dear?" Ursa asked to the surprised Azula, who could only react by putting her self in a seated position to have a better look at the place, she directed her sight everywhere, yet she was unable to recognize anything but her mother's figure who was in front of her.

"what is this?" the puzzled Azula asked.

"it is what it is my dear" Ursa answered .

"i don't understand what has been happening here"Said Azula with the still puzzled expression.

"we all have to face our past deeds, the good as well as the bad, in one way or another my dear, we cannot choose or know how to for only destiny has such right. You can feel lost at times but do not fall in despair, for only when you are lost it that you are closest to find your way". She said while she she softly touched Azula's cheek with her hand.

"But mom...I-I have done so many bad things...i don't think that I can ever be forgiven. She said wile she lowered her head to hid her teary eyes.

"My beloved child" said Ursa while softly pushing Azula's face up. "Before you can ask for others to forgive you, you must first forgive yourself, only then will you find true peace.

Azula busted into tears, burring her face in her mother's lap, she let out all the sorrow she had carried these long years and cried like never before. As she did Ursa ran her finger trough Azula's hair giving her the feeling of love she so needed.

The scene continued for a while, until Azula finally had stopped crying. She sat again to face her mother with her now reddish eyes. Ursa softly grabbed her face with both of her hands wiping the tears off with her thumbs.

"You have a very long road ahead of you my dear, and you seem very tired, you should rest". She told Azula as she yet again lead her head onto her lap. Where she nuzzled her face and hair until Azula was lost in a deep sleep, where Ursa's words where turned into fading whispers. _"there's nothing in this world that I love more than you my child." _was the last thing Azula heard before completely loosing notion of everything.

In that moment she awakened in the cave that she had entered before, she was next to a fire and as she tried to move a tremendous amount of pain ran trough her hole body. She inspected to find herself in strange clothes and with her left arm wrapped between two straight pieces of wood.

"What is this? Where am I...mom!...mom?... was it all a dream" she said. As she saw the silhouette of the same man she saw before fading. He was getting closer holding a recipient that appeared to be full of water. An alarmed Azula could do nothing better than to put distance between her and the stranger. And so she started to drag herself to the back side only to find her path being blocked by the stone walls of the cave.

The young man placed the water in the floor near the fire where the light revealed his true _appearance. He was a teenager looking young man with a blindfold. _

_"Please do not move, your injuries are still not healed" the young man said with concern in his voice. _

_"Who are you?" asked Azula, now more curious than afraid._

_"Well my name is Kuzon" he said. While they stood in the same position, silence filled the cave._

_Caper 5 end_

_Booya! getting better and better, right!...right?...(silence)...T_T...SAY SOMETHING!...oh well see you in the next chapter, review! (keep me motivated) if you wish that is. And God bless. _


	6. for a friend

Chapter 6.

Been a while eh... But I have to say! it does good for this old heart of mine to hear such kindness, thank you so MUCH! for all the reviews. And yet, I have to ruin my thank you lines by saying: Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar: the Last Airbender...yup bummer ain' it?

She just remained there for a very silent while starting at him, a lot of question floated inside her mind, yet the biggest question was why did he helped her. He had given his name rather quickly, and he didn't showed any sings of wanting to do anything bad to her, at least not in that moment.

As time passed by she broke the silence, "why did you help me?" she asked while she looked away from him.

"Huh..why? You ask.? Well there isn't any reason not to help someone who needs it". He replied cheerfully.

Clever as she is, she tried to examine his words to find the smallest glimmer of a second intention in his voice, yet she couldn't find any.

He was somewhat of a kind looking person, but she wasn't the type to just judge someone for appearances, not any more. She remained in the same position for a while, until suddenly her memory recalled someone of importance to her, "SHU!" she exclaimed, as she remembered that the people from the town had taken her, and were now furious at the old woman for helping her scape. She suddenly tried to stand up ignoring the pain in which she was now, as she tried to pull herself from the bed the pain in multiple areas of her anatomy, forced her to yet again collapse in the nest-like bed.

"Be careful!" said Kuzon while rushing towards her side. "your injuries are still very delicate" he said while putting a hand on her shoulder to gently push down Azula, who was still struggling to get up.

"Let go of me!" she demanded, as she still struggled to get out of the bed. There was little time to act, she didn't knew for how long she had been there, or how long she had until Shu was unfairly condemned for a crime that was not for her to pay for, she didn't want anyone to suffer for her actions anymore, specially someone as kind as Shu.

"Please do not be reckless, you are in no shape to do anything right now" he said to her with a easy-going tone, clearly he did not knew the situation she was in. Azula could not wait, yet he had a point she was in no condition to go to the village where she would find more than one opponent willing to confront her, it was a situation that required cleverness, she needed the stealth factor that only the dark veil of the night could provide, so she decided to remain and rest while she waited for an opportunity to make her way out of the cave.

Until that time there was another thing that required her attention, and it was standing right in front of her, this man that had indeed saved her from her unknown fate at the hand of her injuries, yet he had no reason whatsoever to do so, unless he had something much more grim in mind for her. Were her thoughts as she laid on the bed, while being careful not to let her guard down.

Kuzon saw how Azula silently gave up into rest and so he dedicated himself to resume his previous activities, which were storing food and water inside the cave. After an hour he was finished with his labors, and so he walked his way to the campfire and seated besides it with to apples in his hands, he bite one while offering the other to Azula who seem unwilling to accept it, yet he didn't gave up on his ofter he kept his arm raised holding the apple "come on it is a gift from nature specially for you! Don't despise it or the tree will become sad" he said smiling.

After a while, she looked at him noticing how much his kind offers were like Shu's, and without a word she took the apple and start eating it, yet she remained silent.

"you know, it's good that you came here, I don't have many visitors besides the little animals from the forest, and they're not much of the talking type, but I guess so long as we can see each other it's fine". He said as Azula just looked down.

"After all you have been here for three days, although you have been asleep the company really feels good."

Azula was shocked to hear his words. _"Three days!" _she thought with astonishment, _"by this time Shu might already be..." _

As he kept talking Azula was lost in a world of thoughts of how she was going to help Shu, if there was some one left to help that is. But slowly Kuzon's words started to make her snap out of her trance. "Do you want any?" he asked her as he offered an wooden platter full of fruits to her, she was shocked, she did not knew what to think of him anymore.

He had treated her wounds and given her food, she had tried to analyze his words and his behavior yet she didn't find any second intention in his behavior so far, he was even harder to read because of that blindfold that covered his eyes. She was confused she didn't knew whether to think that he was too gentle or too alike her in the past.

While she was paying attention only to her assumptions Kuzon continued to talk relentlessly. yet his words fell on def ears for Azula's mind was focused only in rescuing Shu.

In a certain point during his speech Kuzon recalled Azula's previous exclamation and so, he decided to ask her about it.

"A while ago you mentioned some one named Shu, who is that person?" he asked hoping to start a mutual conversation.

And while it seemingly appeared that his strategy had worked out, there wasn't much of an answer from Azula who only replied by moving her head sightly towards him.

"Sorry it was rude of me to ask" he said.

Silence filled the place once more, until Azula decided to answer. "She is a friend of mine, she lives in the village near the forest, and she is in trouble because of me, she saved me and now she is going to pay for a crime that I committed. That's why I have to help her". She said with a sound of bitterness in her voice.

"well, I see now why you are so interested in going, but think about it from her point of view, she had sacrificed everything to give you an opportunity to live on, and atone yourself for whatever bad deeds you have done, and I think that she would be sad if you don't take it.

Azula understood his point, but her resolve was already set to a goal, and so she remained silent.

Suddenly for both of them, the bright sunlight was now turned into a faint luminescence that was ready to die with the birth of a new night, as Kuzon realized the time it was, he stood up and turned his face towards Azula "I'm going to sleep now, would you like something before I do?" he asked, yet Azula just remained silent.

"Well if there's anything you need don't hesitate to ask me?" he said as he walked away.

When he was walking he stopped and turned to Azula. "Only one more thing" he said to her with a mysterious tone.

There was a brief silence.

"Hmm". Replied Azula.

"I have been here, alone for a long time, and I was wondering, if you... can you... can you tell me your name?" he asked with a gentle soft tone.

There was only silence and echoes filling the cave from that time on. And so the question died unanswered, as Azula just turned her head around, to avoid giving an answer.

And so, Kuzon just turned around and laid on the cave's floor. "Sorry it wasn't my intention to be rude" he said.

Azula pretended to sleep. About half an hour had passed since Kuzon lied down, now he should be slumbering deeply, which was exactly the opportunity Azula was waiting for to sneak out of the cave.

With the little rest and the fruits she had eaten she now had more energy to carry on with her rescue plan, she stood up enduring the pain that ran trough her body, yet this time for her good fortune, it was much less intense than before. As she quietly made her way trough the cave, she moved carefully to avoid making any noise, as it would probably wake up the slumbering Kuzon.

After a little walk trough the cave she finally found herself in the forest outside, the path to take was clear, she would find the river and follow it's current up. _"time is of the essence" _she tough as she realized that haste was a necessary factor in her quest. She would have to move fast, yet to her injured body it would be a very painful experience to go trough, but she didn't care, Shu had put her life on the line for her, and even though she did not knew if Shu was still alive and well, or even if she would be willing to have her life saved by her who was responsible for her son's death, yet how could Azula call herself her friend if she didn't risk all for her, and so she set off, ignoring the pain and with only one thing in mind.

"I will not let you pay for my crimes". she said as she ran to the river at top speed.

The night was still young, she had reached the river and after a brief pause to catch her breath she started to run again, this time in the opposite direction of the river's current.

She ran as fast as she could. Her body was in pain, she was tired, but in her mind nothing mattered more than to save Shu. She continued to run for some time, until she found the place where she had jumped into the river. Now it was just a matter of going into the forest and find the village.

She entered the forest moving with as much agility as she could, as the people from the village might still be around. As she moved among the trees her mind drifted back to that time inside the cave. She still could not figure out Kuzon, yet in the end she ended up embracing the idea that he wasn't a bad person. And as she remembered she also recalled her attitude towards him. She was much like before, she was there thinking so much about rescuing Shu and her frustration towards the fact that her only true friend since a long time was in such predicament because of her, that she almost completely ignored the fact that there was another human being there, kindly talking to her, yet only receiving slight whispers, and cold words as answers. But this time she regretted not answering his final question as it might had been the last time that she could have talked to him.

Moving onward she came across the sight of many lights coming from the village. It was around nine o'clock, she had arrived to her destination as planed. Although, she did not trespassed the limits of the village right away, instead she gazed toward every place to find potential places where Shu could be as well as other people that might come in her way.

She carefully walked around the village, checking every suspicious place with no result, until she came across a place that unlike the other houses, was guarded by two soldiers. Finding it suspicious she decided to inspect it.

Making her way to the back of the house she found an open window, which after checking there were no guards around she decided to inspect. She entered trough the window and found herself surrounded by cage-like prisons made of thick wood, that held many people, some of the cages were empty and some others had sleeping people inside of them, she continued to inspect them with the hope of finding her, until after a while she came across some one that seem familiar, she walked towards the cage where that person was still awakened and facing the other way around, the shape was unmistakable, she approached and whispered to that person, "Shu" whispered Azula.

The person turner around to reveal that it was indeed Shu, "Ursa!" she said surprised.

"What are you doing here child" she asked still astonished.

"I came to get you out of here, I wont let them hurt you."

"it's too late for me you better go before the guards come back."

"i won't leave you again." said Azula as she stood up. She went to the desk near the door an started to look for a key, and as she searched she could hear the guards talking outside.

"Aren't you supposed to keep an eye on the prisoners" one of the guards outside said.

"Nah!, there's no need for that, they're just a bunch of lowlifes, they wouldn't try anything even if they could."

Azula was still searching for the keys, as fast as she could considering that she could only use an arm. For a little while she scrambled the documents on the desk until she found a large metal ring with many keys attached to it.

"Alright" she said as she went toward Shu's cell.

"I'll get you out of there in a moment." said Azula as she tried to open the lock with various keys.

"you have go Ursa, there's no time the guards might come in at any moment. Said Shu who was worried that instead of just her they would take Azula as well.

Some time passed and Azula finally found the right key. And as Azula opened the door it made a squiring sound that was too loud for the guards to ignore.

"What was that!" one of the guard exclaimed.

"it came from inside" the other one said.

"You better go and check it"

"why me" the guard replied

"because you're the one that is supposed to" said the first guard.

Azula was now re-united with Shu, there were many things that she wanted to say, yet there was no time. "there's no time waste" said Azula as she grabbed Shu's hand, and started to move. They quickly went to the window, and as the they did one of the guards entered the building and saw the now opened cage, the guard quickly went to inspect it, and as he did he found the keys laying on the floor, he took a look around the placed until his sight encountered the view of Azula jumping out of the window.

"THE PRISIONER HAS SCAPED! barked the guard, the other guard sounded an alarm bell that alerted all the other guards and villagers in the area, which in a manner of minutes had swarmed the whole place, searching for the fugitives, which made the scape of both Azula and Shu almost impossible.

The pair ran trough the place relentlessly, yet there were guards and villagers everywhere. Changing their direction constantly hoping for a chance of leaving the village, but it was impossible. After a while they were found by the guards that had showed no intention of taking prisoners, as they started to use earthbending against Azula and Shu.

They barely avoided the rocks, just to have more coming on their way, and so avoiding the barrage of boulders, they ran among the houses for shelter.

They ran as fast as they could, but from every corner new adversaries appeared to block their path. Taking in new directions each time, they were lead to a large building which was quickly surrounded by the guards and villagers, leaving the pair trapped between the sword and the wall.

"There's _**no**_ way out" said one of the guards sadistically.

"This time you will not scape us" said a voice from among the people.

"this place will be your grave" said one of the guards as he used his earth bending to pull a large rock from the ground.

"Azula took a step forward "you can do whatever you want with me just let Shu go" she plead.

A criminal's a criminal, she chosen this path when she decided to help a murderer like you, we will not miss our chance again, we _**will**_ execute you both right here and now.

The crowd took some steps back to let the earthbenders trough, they started to pull enormous rocks from the ground, keeping them suspended on the air until one of the guards gave the order. "NOW!" barked the guard, and as he did the others threw the enormous rocks at Azula and Shu.

Azula quickly embraced Shu to try and protect her from the coming onslaught of boulders coming their way. Closing her eyes she felt the end coming, after a few second however nothing had happened.

She opened her eyes and turned around to find the rocks floating in front of them, she was surprised but there was no one there doing it, the crowd was shocked to see the weird phenomena, and in that moment a single figure descended slowly from above the large building behind them.

Landing in front of them, silently the mysterious figure just stood there for a couple of seconds and with a slight movement of his hand the rocks were turned to dust.

Azula's eyes could not believe what they were seeing, but it was unmistakable.

Ku...Kuzon! Azula said in shock

chapter 6 end.

I know, I know... That took a while... and it was kinda messy, but in my defense I have to say that it is always hard to write about more than one character, but don't get me wrong it is because I want you to enjoy the story that I take long, I want it to be memorable and live up to everyone's expectations.

Getting Good! GOod! GOOd! GOOD! aren't we? Thank **YOU** for reading, and might God show the way to us all. Till next time. A little review or two wouldn't hurt either, but that's up to ya.


	7. my body as a shield, my soul as a sword

Seven sure is a pretty number, right. Feels good on this old bones to have come this far, thanks to all of you who read this story. Really, thank you it means a lot to ME. There are so many things left to say.. yet the only thing that comes to my mind right now is, Disclaimer; I, do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender...God...what a bitter way to begin a chapter. T^T

Chapter 7

That moment seemed as if it was frozen in time. The gazes of every one present in that place were all focused in a single being. After a short time the cloud of dust left by the demolished rocks dissipated to reveal the blindfolded young man standing in between the crowd and the defenseless pair of ladies behind him.

The furious bunch of people reacted by taking a few steps back because of the impression. The atmosphere was tense, there was silence everywhere, and the image of the young man was standing motionless.

Azula broke the silence by saying his name in surprise. Ku...Kuzon!

As he heard her voice, he turned his head to show the side face to Azula and offer her a soft smile. After that he again faced the group of people in front of him.

"I do not wish to fight any of you, but neither will I allow you to harm them. So please let us trough peacefully" He told to the large group of people.

Their faces changed from an astonished expression to the furious visages they had before he appeared.

Many voices came from among the people.

"Shut up and get out of our way boy!"

"You are in no position to ask for anything"

"You wouldn't be helping them if you knew what one of them did to all the people in this country!" yield one of the guards furiously.

"No, I don't know what she did, neither I know how it felt, nor what you feel towards her. But I can tell you this much, whatever it is you feel, just let it go. If you kill them, in the end you'll just become that which you so deeply despise. For revenge is a poison that corrupts the souls of them who embrace and give into it. And so, one more time I ask of you, please let us go peacefully."

"nonsense!, boy!, you think that you are in any position to demand anything? Get out of our way or we'll kill you along with them!. PREPARE TO ATTACK" shouted the guard while he pulled large rocks from the ground, soon after the other earthbenders did the same.

"You will not let go of anger...how regrettable... I was hoping to leave peacefully, but you have left me no other choice, if you attack us I will defend myself and them" said Kuzon as he adopted a battle stance by rising his hands in front of him.

Kuzon remained still, almost as if he wanted his opponents to make the first move. Yet behind him Azula could only watch, and in her mind she knew that while it might had been an act of luck that he stopped the rocks earlier, this time he might not be as fortunate, for she knew all to well that a single bender could not take down so many other benders of the same type all by himself. So she felt inside of her heart, a deep feeling of both fear and concern towards him, that was hard for her to comprehend. Her heart was racing as she saw him, right in front of her was standing a man that was the image of pure resolve. This man in front of her that had aided her, this man who offered her friendship and warmness. This very same man who now puts his life on the line for her without a reason.

There was nothing that she could do, the world seemed as if it was frozen in time, the resent events seemed like an awful lot of time to her, yet it was only an instant, everything seemed dark and silent, until a loud voice coming from among the people in front shouted "NOW!". And as it did all earthbenders unleashed the massive boulders at the trio.

Taking quick action, Kuzon deflected most of the rocks while trowing the others outside of the area, yet the benders kept attacking relentlessly. As the fight drove on, the guards could not comprehend how a single person could hold his ground with so many other benders at the same time, without attacking.

"Please stop, I don't wanna hurt you" said Kuzon as he deflected the rocks trowed by the guards.

"the guards kept trowing rocks with all their might, yet their efforts had no greater consequence. They were surprised to face off against such a skilled opponent, but this was only helping in increasing their frustration.

The repetitive scene filled the attackers with anger, and so they began to attack frenetically with smaller and sharpen rocks. In their relentless barrage, the increased number of rocks were harder to block, suddenly, a scream of distress coming from behind him reached his ears. He quickly turned to find that Azula had been trapped by a whirlpool of quicksand made by one of the guards, which had trapped half of her body inside of it.

"Ursa!" claimed Shu as she quickly grabbed Azula's hand.

The hole was going to swallow her in a matter of seconds, Shu was trying her best to pull Azula out of it, but at her old age her strength was just not enough to avoid anything but to delay the inevitable, if she didn't get any help soon she was sure to die.

There was no time, Kuzon could only avoid the rocks effectively by using both of his hands. But if he didn't help her, there would be no reason for him to be there. Shu's grip slipped, which made her let go of Azula's hand. it was a decisive moment, as Azula was quickly pulled down by the swallow vortex.

She was almost entirely devoured by the sand, all that was left of her to see was her arm. And in that moment she felt despair filling herself, the dark abyss was going to claim her life, _"maybe this is for the best, I cant allow more people to suffer because of me... With this it ends..."_ she though. And with those final words within her head, she gave up completely, she was now ready to accept death. Yet someone was not ready to let her go. Rushing towards her Kuzon had stopped blocking the rocks that the guards were trowing at them. He grab a hold of Azula's arm ad pulled her out of the sand vortex so that her upper body was outside of it.

The sharp rock were hitting his back, cutting and smashing against his body. Yet he held her hand firmly.

With his other hand he was deflecting as many rocks as he could to protect Shu, as he now was protecting Azula with his own body.

"Please go! you. don't have to do this. Don't trow your life away for someone like me." Azula plead to Kuzon who replied by saying "we all deserve a second chance in life, and whatever it is you have done in the past, has make you grown into what you are now, and if you learned your at least one thing worth keeping then it was all worth it".

His words had touched Azula's heart, her eyes filled with tears, as she saw him directly he clearly was in pain, yet his smile would not vanish from his face.

Seen how their defenses had weakened one of the guards pulled a large rock from the ground and threw it directly at Kuzon's head, who could do little to avoid the impact, and although the rock had not hit him directly, it caused enough damage to open a large wound in the right side of his face, while also knocking off his blindfold.

His mouth arched because of the pain, blood was flowing from the wound in his head and was dripping from his chin, yet he kept is eyes shut firmly.

Azula saw him struggling for keeping her alive, he suffered greatly for her, she could not comprehend why was he doing that, he had known her for no less than a few hours. And in the time that he talked to her, she was so cold towards him. So why was him trying to protect her even at the cost of his own life.

"Please...please...just take Shu and go..." she plead as tears were making their way out of her eyes.

"please, don't say such things. Kuzon said to her. I've seen your heart, you have suffered greatly for your past deeds, and yet all I see now is someone who is even willing to give her life for a someone she cares about. If some one like you is not worth saving, then no one is. He said to her as he opened his eyes.

Azula's eyes widened in shock as she saw him, "how can this be" were the only word she could pronounce. Suddenly she felt a great pressure pushing her from below her feet. The whirlpool had now expunged her from it's deadly vortex before disappearing.

Suddenly the rocks that they kept trowing at them were frozen in mid air. Yet Kuzon remained motionless.

"Forgive me..." he whispered as he turned around to face the large crowd and reveal a pair of eyes that glowed with red light. And so all of them were both shock an terrorized as they saw his face.

"You have let me no choice" he said as he swung his arm in their direction, which caused a gust of extremely violent wind, that disintegrated the rocks that were suspended in front of him while also blowing the large crowd many meters away, while at the same time devastating many buildings the immediate area.

He then proceeded to raise his other hand which caused an enormous wall of flame to ascend in between the aggressors and them, which also set in flames all it touched.

The astonished crowd now dispersed trough the area watched with terrorized faces the devastation that a single being had caused. Fear overrun their hearts as they saw his image trough the flames.

He stood still for a moment, until he raised bot of his arms to the sides, causing a great earthquake that ripped off the segment of ground were Azula, Shu and himself were standing. The enormous piece of ground elevated may meters int the air ad with some movement from Kuzon's arms, it started to move. Taking them away from the scene.

The great boulder soared trough the firmament, until it stopped above the river in the outer part of the village. Where Kuzon moved his arms again, this time to bend the water from the river which he guided above the village, and when it was in a good position with another movement of his hand, the water fell on the village in the form of rain, that put out the fire he had started earlier.

Kuzon's face seemed sad, his smile was no more, and tears were coming out from his eyes as he gazed upon the destruction he had caused, " again..." he said as he directed the rock transporting them away, to unknown whereabouts, the people gazed at them, until they got lost in the darkness of the night. Leaving behind those who hated, and now were suffering the bitter pain of the undone revenge.

As they left Azula silently looked at him, she immediately recognized his expression, for it is the same one she has every time she remembers the suffering she had caused. She felt his pain as if it was her own, that was when she realized the kind of being he was. He was some one like her, some one who just needed a friend. And so she continued to look at him as they soared trough the sky, to their still unknown destination.

Chapter 7 end.

Well this is a decisive step in the story, please tell me what you think of it. This is getting sweet, at least for me. So please tell me, what do you think of the story so far.

So this chapter was done quickly, which I think that it's something you like (who doesn't XD), so I'll try to update every week. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your time. So, so long for now, and might God give to us all strength to carry on in life.

And before we finish, have you heard about the new avatar series that is planed to be released in 2011, it prominences to be really cool. So check some info out it's name will be Avatar: the legend of Korra.


	8. new friends

I'll take your silence about the last chapter as a sing of acceptance. XD. Well we have made it to eight, I'm so proud. And yet also sad to say Disclaimer: I do NOT! Own Avatar: the last airbender. And that my dear friends, is a SERIOUS bummer...

Chapter 8

The great rock soared trough the sky. Azula and Shu had given into sleep, yet Kuzon remained awakened for it was him that kept the large boulder in motion. Azula was sound asleep until the morning sun's light made her open her eyes. Barely awakened she was almost going to close her eyes again, until a feeling of lack of gravity forced her to open her eyes suddenly.

Looking at every side of the floating land mass, she saw Shu holding on by grabbing some cracks made on the rock's surface. She immediately knew what was going on and directed her sight towards Kuzon, who now was on his knees.

Exhaustion had finally taken over him, he struggled to keep the land mass in the air, but despite his efforts they were falling too fast. Seeing this Azula rushed to his side.

"Kuzon!" she exclaimed as she started to move.

"Stay where you are!" he shouted.

Azula did as he said and held on to the ground as firmly as she could. Suddenly she saw a familiar sight. There they were enclosing to an all too familiar place to her. The great capital city of the earth kingdom. Ba Sin Se. the scenario of her so called "greatest victory" though now it was the reminiscent of her greatest mistake.

Despite Kuzon's efforts, they were still falling too fast. And as they got closer to the ground Kuzon saw a zoo-like place filled with many kinds of animals, which unfortunately was the place were the great land mass was gonna fall.

As Kuzon realized this, he tried nightly to change the direction, but he was unsuccessful. Knowing that he had little time to act he took a drastic decision. He turned around to face both, Azula and Shu, and without a word he enveloped them in an wind sphere that took them off the moving piece of ground while slowly descending to gently place them on the ground.

As they reached the ground, Azula saw how Kuzon was still on the large Land mass.

"Kuzon!" Azula screamed as she started to run towards the zoo-like place. And as she did Shu grabbed a hold of her hand. "don't it's too dangerous" said Shu as Azula just stood there gazing at the falling rock in silence.

He had decided to use the last of his energies to pulverize the great boulder as soon as it crashed with land below, so that non of the animals result injured.

Azula looked from a distance, as the large rock made contact with the ground and turned into a great cloud of dust.

"KUZON!" she screamed as she released her hand from Shu's grip, and started to run towards the large cloud. Knowing that she could not stop her Shu could only follow her. "wait Ursa" said Shu as she ran after her.

After an instant Azula had reached the place were the large rock had fallen. The wind had dissipated most of the dust. She searched the area with her eyes until she found some movement coming from the a pile of dirt.

She moved closely to it, until an arm came from within it. Azula was surprised by it and fell on her back, she looked at the moving pile of earth as Kuzon emerged from within the dirt. And once he was out of it he just remained on the ground breathing heavily.

Azula stood up and walked to him. "are you alright?" she asked as she glared at him.

"I'm fine" he replied as he seated on the floor.

They just remained there in silence. Kuzon had closed his eyes once more.

"Ursa!" said Shu as she finally had reached the place.

Azula was silent, she knew in her heart that it was the time to confront Shu.

"Shu... I.." said Azula with a sound of bitterness on her voice.

"Now that you know who I am... I know that you must hate me, I was the one that caused the death of your son. And I am now ready to accept my fair punishment, for I know that no apology would be enough" she said as she knelled and bowed her head in front of Shu who just stood in front of her silently.

Some seconds passed by until Shu decided to talk.

She knelled in front of Azula and placed an hand on he shoulder, and with her other hand she softly pulled Azula's chin up, to reveal her crying face.

"There's nothing to forgive. You have done things that now regret, yet fate has brought us here now. And I would not be here saying this now if it wasn't for you. I owe you my life". She said as she hugged Azula.

They remained like that for a while until Shu broke their hug, she then stood up and helped Azula to do the same.

"That is enough of tears Ursa" said Shu smiling.

Azula nodded and wiped the tears off her face, suddenly something came to her mind.

"Shu, you already know my real name, why do you keep calling me Ursa?" asked Azula.

"Well, it's rather difficult to stop doing so, after all I've been calling you like that for quite some time now" replied Shu.

As the pair talked, Kuzon stood up, having recovered enough strength he was now walking away.

Azula realized that he was walking and chased after him.

"Where are you going?" asked Azula.

"here you can begin a new life and live peacefully for as long as you desire." he said.

"yes we _all_ can, come with us" she said.

"I cannot stay, everywhere I go is the same story. I end up destroying everything, and harming everyone around. I must go away so that I won't cause any more pain to others" said Kuzon. As he opened his eyes, an sphere of wind formed around him, which made him levitate.

The wind caused by the sphere was strong, yet Azula held her ground against it, she could now see his soul trough his eyes, she could now see how similar they were. "you are the reason why we are here today, without you we wouldn't be alive. Please, you don't have to be alone." She said as she remembered her attitude towards him. She remembered the anguish that she had felt deep within her soul, when she was all alone. An ominous felling that only disappeared only when some one gave her friendship, the friendship that she had denied him before.

Kuzon didn't say a word, he just kept the sphere going. Increasing the speed of the wind he started to elevate until he felt something grabbing his arm. He looked down and saw Azula holding on to him.

"please let go, I cannot be with anyone, I'll just end up hurting them." he told to Azula.

"I won't!. if you don't stay... then I'll go with you!" she said being somewhat pushy. She knew she had to embrace that part of her that she had left behind, even if just for a moment she would force herself at his side if necessary.

He had heard her words, but in his mind it just could not be. And so he just continued to increase the speed of the wind.

It was too much for her to withstand, her hand slipped and she fell to the ground. She saw as the sphere of air ascended more and more whit each second, which filled her heart with sadness and her eyes with tears.

Seeing this Shu rushed to Azula's side and helped her to get in a seated position.

"please...please...please, don't go... Don't leave me, don't be alone" she cried out loud at him.

He stopped the sphere, and directed his sight to the sky as if he was remembering something.

Her words had indeed reached him. The sphere started to descend until it touched the ground to place him in front of her. The wind sphere disappeared. He knelled in front of her. "you saw what I did in that village, I cannot live anywhere near a place like this. I would end up destroy everything." he said to her.

Azula saw his face, and without a word nor knowing why, she hugged him. "you don't have to be alone, if you cannot live in here then, just take me with you anywhere you go." she plead.

Kuzon was surprised, he broke the hug after a while, and with his hands placed on her shoulders he asked her. "what about your friend?"

"Shu..." whispered Azula as she looked at the old lady.

"I'll be fine after all I'm old not crippled, ha". Said Shu whit a jockey tone.

"I was so bad to you that day. I don't know if you want me with you after the way I treated you but.. I want to do this" she said while looking him directly to the eyes.

Kuzon only remained there, without saying a word, he let his smile answer for him. "nothing would make me happier" he said to Azula as he stood up and helped her to do the same.

"well it seems that there's a journey awaiting for you two in the horizon, I wish you luck" said Shu. "oh! And one more thing. She said as she passed Kuzon the piece of fabric that he used as a blindfold. "You'll be needing this" she said smiling.

Kuzon took the piece of fabric and smiled back at her.

"thank you so much" for everything said Azula as she gave the old lady a very strong hug. As strong as she could considering that she could only use one arm.

"you two take care now" said Shu as she took some steps away from them.

"are you ready?" asked Kuzon to Azula.

"yes" she replied as she stood close to him.

He then proceed to create another air sphere this time also taking a portion of the ground to have Azula stand on. The wind around them was spinning extremely fast, it kept that way until the sphere started to float, which started their travel trough the sky, with every second delivering farther and farther from the great city Azula only looked back to see Shu walking towards the city's wall.

Standing in silence the pair now going towards an still unknown destination had filled an empty portion in each others heart.

"do you still wanna know?" asked Azula mysteriously as she started at the horizon.

"know what?" replied the confused Kuzon.

"the answer to your question" she said.

"huh?" he replied still confused

"my name!" she exclaimed.

"oh... well that would be a great honor" said Kuzon.

"my name is Azula" she said to him

"what a beautiful name" he said "let's us become good friends" he said as he looked at her.

Azula blushed slightly. No one had ever told her that her name was beautiful, but then again who has she ever let close enough to her to be able to do so.

They just smiled, and faced forward. After several minutes of traveling, having passed various rivers and hills. The horizon showed a great mountain. Kuzon looked at the place and smiled, then he proceeded to slow down the speed of the wind forming the sphere, which in urn began to descend.

They landed in front of the mountain in a place with many trees.

"why are we stopping here?" Azula asked.

"this is gonna be our new home" he said as he used his earth bending to create a large cave in the mountain's base.

Azula nodded as she saw him putting on his blindfold again.

"Shall we" he said pointing her at the cave's entrance.

She nodded, and the two of them entered the dark cave. In the hope of living quietly.

Back in the village.

Everything was practically destroyed, some of the villagers were injured, but nothing too serious. Some of them looked at the destruction to see what they could salvage. While others came back with guards of the fire nation from the cargo ships that had arrived some days before the incident, to tell them about Azula.

The guards were collecting information about her, when all of a sudden an old woman yield at them.

"IT WAS THE WICKED AVATAR I TELL YOU!, THE LEGEND IS TRUE, I SAW HIS RED EYES, I SAW IT I TELL YOU!" the old woman kept yelling that though the people from the village didn't pay attention to her words.

"what's with that old woman?" one of the fire nation soldiers asked.

"Nothing, she's crazy, pay her no mind" one of the villagers told the guard. Who by looking around the place said "i don't think that her madness did all this".

"more importantly, you say that the young man who did all this, was able to bend all four elements." the guard asked the villager.

"yes, I've never saw anything like it, he destroyed everything for protecting her" the man said.

"i see, send word to the fire lord immediately, tell him that, princess Azula had been sighted, and omit nothing of the testimonies given here." the higher rank officer commanded to the guards.

"tell him that the rumors about Azula's revolt are true".

Chapter 8 end.

There you have it. Hope yo liked it.

_Please **review!**_

So long. And might God give us all the ability to find the peace that all of us in this world need.


	9. old friends

Hi there, a story never has 9 chapters again, this is truly a memorable time so please, so join me for the ninth, disclaimer I do NOT own avatar the last airbender. Wasn't that just painful...

**Ok here is where the story start's to get some shape. **

Chapter 9.

Some days had passed since their arrival to their new "home". Now having to start from zero, both Azula and Kuzon devoted their time to make the place more vivid and well-suited to live in. they had made may different simple things from the resources at hand. Like wooden beds, and an improvised heater system.

Their life was to be peaceful from now on, yet Azula could notice a drastic change in Kuzon's behavior, of course that she only had known him fro some hours, yet during that time she could see that he was a very cheerful and sociable young man. Unlike now, he was solitary distant and silent. She could tell that something was wrong.

During constant times she would try to talk to him, but every time she did so he seemed distracted, and distant, her words would latter reach him, but only to receive a straight answer.

After they finished to work in the inside of the cave, they worked on collecting food which was no trouble since there were so many trees filled with fruits in the area. Azula was in a better shape now, being able to climb to the trees really fast now that she had had more time to practice on her agility and recover most of the strength of her limbs, though she could only use one arm the other one was doing much better.

It was almost sunset, and their labors were almost done, it was only a matter of getting what they had collected into the cave. While she carried the collected fruits into the cave, for some time she had noticed that Kuzon seemed to have difficulty walking, so she went to him to see if he was alright.

"are you well" she asked with a concerned voice.

"I'm fine... just a little tired" he said as he took a few steps forward. As he walked he suddenly dropped to his knees and collapsed on the ground. Dropping everything he was carrying.

"Kuzon!" exclaimed Azula, as she rushed to the side of his collapsed body. He laid motionless, face-down on the floor, she knelled beside him and helped him to be face-up. Doing so she could feel that he was covered in sweat, and as she touched him she felt that his skin was very hot. "you have a fever!" she said as she also noticed that he was breathing heavily.

She was in the verge of panicking, she had never before dealt with such a case, and this time there was no one around to do it for her. So she picked him up and took him inside of the cave.

After putting him on his bed, she then put more firewood on the small fire that now became larger.

Having set him on his bed she, she removed the top side of his clothing. Which revealed his back and torso. She then saw his body. It was full of scars and burns, they were reminiscent of the kind of life he has had, she could not help but to feel bad for him, he is such a kind person yet he has been hated and feared for reasons beyond her comprehension. and as she saw him she noticed various wounds on his back and arms, this were the product of his actions while he protected her during the villagers attack.

She quickly grabbed some water with a wood recipient. She tore off the lower part of her top and she put it in the water. Then she proceeded to clean the cuts. After some time she was done. But she knew that she had to pay close attention to him during all times. It was the least she could do, after all he had proven that he would do the same for her. And so the night fell upon them, and the ever watchful Azula remained by his side. In the dark cave whose only light came from the now small fire that gave them heat during the cold nights.

Mean while, in the fire nation.

On a beautiful night, In the the royal palace of the fire nation, a ray of moonlight entered trough the window. Zuko laid on his bed next a sleeping Mai. This would had seemed like a normal night, yet Zuko could not find the respite of sleep. In the morning of that day, a messenger hawk had arrived carrying with it ominous news from the earth kingdom. His thoughts were scattered trough his head, the news were worst than he could have expected. Azula was on the loose, the destruction of a village on the earth kingdom, and those final words, _the wicked avatar. _Were_ r_epeating in his mind over and over.

He rubbed his eyes with one hand, letting out a sigh of distress. He made his way out of the blanket and sat on the edge of the large bed, putting his head between his hands.

"Are you alright? You've been acting weird since this morning" said may as she put herself in a seated position.

Zuko rapidly turned to see her. "I'm sorry, did I awakened you?" he said as he made his way next to her.

"no, he did" she said as she pointed her swollen belly. "the baby has been moving a lot lately"

"if he keeps this up, he might come out walking." she said trying to cheer Zuko up.

Zuko could not help but chuckle as he laid beside her and placed one hand on her belly. And the other on her cheek.

"What's wrong Zuko?" she asked as they looked at each other eyes. "was it that message you received this morning?"

No, it's nothing like that. Maybe I'm just stressed for all the work there's to do, I'm sure I'll be alright in no time." he lied, though he knew that she was not one to fall for it, he just changed the topic.

"Why don't you try to get some sleep" he told May.

"i don't know, maybe it's because of YOUR son that wakes me up every fifteen minutes!" she exclaimed.

Zuko could not resist her face, she was too cute with the moon light reflecting on her pale skin, she looked as if she was glowing. "Sorry" he said as he gave her a kiss on the forehead, "just try", "it might also help me to sleep as well." he said as both of them were seemingly asleep he could not stop thinking about Azula's whereabouts. Or what she was doing.

After a while he fell asleep, along with Mai.

The following days, Zuko expended lots of time looking into a large library which contained hundreds of scrolls. He remained in there for many hours, every day for a whole week. Having read many documents, with no important result, he was starting to give up. Yet he kept searching in the higher places of the bookshelf, he climbed until he saw and old looking box covered in dust among the other scrolls, that had the royal seal of fire lord in it. Zuko extended his arm to reach the box, but this made the bookshelf move and shake out of control. Unable to regain balance the entire bookshelf fell. Spreading the books all over the library and burying Zuko beneath dozens of scrolls.

After the incident, he arose from the pile of scrolls with the box in his hands. And taking a quick look at the seal on it his eyes widened in surprise as he recognized the seal of his great grand father; firelord Zosin.

Zuko rapidly opened the box in which he found a piece of scroll, it seemed ancient, it was torn, burn and it was missing a part. Zuko started to read it, and after some minutes, when he was finished, his eyes were wide open in surprise. He could not let out a word. Immediately he went to a desk that was in that room. Quickly grabbing paper and ink, he started to write in it with great haste. After he was finished he went out of of the library to find that it was almost sunset already. He called for one of the many servants in the palace. Who went to his encounter almost immediately.

"take this to the guards and have it delivered to the southern air temple at once." said Zuko with an altered voice.

The servant took the letter. After bowing in front of Zuko went to the area were they receive and send messenger hawks. He the quickly gave the instructions to a guard, who took the letter and placed it on the container of the hawk's back, he then sent the hawk flying out of a large window.

As the day was coming to an end, Zuko suddenly felt very tired, he knew that he hasn't been with Mai for a while and that in her state she needed his company and support, but above all his love. He then entered his room and laid next to Mai.

"Are you done with your research?" she asked with a clearly displeased tone of voice.

"yes" Zuko replied, as he made his way next to her. "I'm sorry, I have been so busy this days" he said as he softly nuzzled her arm, he then proceeded to kiss her shoulder and then her neck. "I will be with you for as long as you want from now on." he said to her.

He wanted to be loving and dedicate more time to his wife, but that scroll he had read had and the state of constant alert that there was because of the treat that Azula represented, filled his head with worries. And there was only one person in the world that could help him in such a time. The pair did not talk beyond those final words, and so a quiet sleep took them into it's grasp.

Two days after. In the southern air temple.

The sun arose from the horizon, it's light shined over the now refreshed looking buildings. The sounds of nature were the perfect alarm for the sleeping couple, that shared a bed in one of the may rooms of the temple.

The sound of a large yawn was the sign for the young avatar to wake up, for that sound could only mean that Appa was more than ready to eat the ornamental plants that were really hard to properly raise. So Aang rushed trough the morning rituals of cleaning and went to feed his massive friend.

Wearing only his pants he went to the outside, where Appa was deadly close to the beautiful plants that were all over the place, he quickly used his air bending to move a large amount of leaves that were kept in a place that Appa could not reach. Placing them in front of the large animal who automatically started to eat them.

After seeing this, Aang felt the morning sun warming his skin and the fresh breeze filling the place with a fresh aura, that made the plants move as if they were dancing.

It was such a peaceful view, to see what him and Katara had achieved during those years, the temple was almost completely restored.

As he contemplated the work of these last years the young avatar heard a voice. "Aang..." as he heard his name he turned around to see Katara walking towards him. Still rubbing her eyes she approached to him who received her with a warm kiss on the lips.

"Good morning" he said as he broke the kiss.

"Good morning to you too" she replied. "was Appa at it again?" she asked.

"yeah, he seems to like these plants" he replied. "did we awake you" he asked her with a little bit of fear in his voice. Katara can be really scary if she doesn't sleep well.

Knowing what was on his mind, she giggled "no, Aang you did not woke me up"

they smiled at each other. But the peaceful aura of the moment was ruined by a distressful little roar, that sounded like Momo had begun his mischievous activities. Yet it wasn't very peculiar to have such troubles so early in the morning.

They rushed to the place were the sounds came from, to find Momo fighting with a messenger hawk from the fire nation. Aang separated the fighting pair wit a light move with his hand that caused a mini air bubble that separated them. Momo ran towards Katara and climbed on to her shoulder. While Aang offered his arm to the hawk, which immediately flied to it. Having landed on his forearms, Aang inspected the container from which he pulled a letter with Zuko's seal on it.

He tore the seal to reveal the letter's message. Katara looked at Aang as he began to read it, and after a little he was done reading. In that time he just looked at Katara silently.

"so what does it say" asked Katara curiously.

"it says: he want's us to bring the team together again, and to go to the fire nation as fast as possible." he replied.

"That's odd, does it say anything else." she asked, a little bit confused.

"No, it's just that." replied Aang.

"that's just weird, so what are we gonna do" she asked, although she already knew the answer.

"well, no way around it, is there, we will go" he replied.

And so they just went to prepare themselves for the journey. After an hour everything that they needed was loaded on Appa. They climbed the large sky bison. Aang seated on the head of the large creature while Katara sat on the large seat on the back.

"Where should we go first?" asked Katara as she nuzzled Momo who was lying in her lap.

"first to Kioshi island to pick up Sokka and Suki, and then to B Sing Se to get Toph." he said, a little bit anxious that they were gonna meet with the rest of the group again. Katara smiled at the mentioning of their friends' names, for she shared his enthusiasm.

They took off leaving behind the place they have called home these last years, heading south to the island of Kyoshi they smiled at the idea of re-uniting with the rest of the "team avatar".

A few hours later.

They were soaring calmly trough the sky, until the horizon revealed the landscape of Kyoshi island. "we're here" said Aang to Katara. She made her way to the front of the large bison's back to see the island getting bigger as they enclosed distance.

Suddenly Aang told her to take Appa's leash, as he jumped off to the waters below. "There he goes again" sighted Katara. Aang entered the water, and after a while he emerged ridding a large sea serpent.

The large snake-like creature waved it's body to make Aang fall into it's mouth to make him it's next meal. Yet Aang just kept doing what he does best, having fun. After a while he jumped off the large creature and flew to Appa's back, where by smashing his fists together he created a wind vortex that dried his clothes.

"You should stop doing that" said with a scared look on her face. Katara. She has seen him ridding large animals countless times, yet every single experience scared her greatly, no matter how used Aang was to do so, it is always risky. And he has the scars to prove so.

"sorry, but I just can't resist the Unagi" he said to her. "we're here" he said as they saw the people below gathering up to meet them as they landed. There was a huge commotion, the people were cheering with euphoria, and the usual guy who always seems to have a nervous breakdown every time he sees Appa arriving.

They were received by none else but Sokka, who rushed to their encounter. Hugging both, Aang and Katara as they got off of Appa.

"How have you two been" asked Sokka.

"We're doing great" replied Katara.

"I see, glad to hear. So do you wanna see Suki and Ty Lee?"

"of course" replied Aang.

As they walked down the little road that lead to the training dojo they just talked about these little details of life that they didn't share anymore. After a little walk, they arrived at the dojo doors. Getting inside of the building, they came across the sight of many young girls and also boys, training under the lead of Suki.

She turned around and saw the surprising sight of Aang and Katara. She stood silently looking at them, then she offered a smile to them and turned around to face her pupils. "training is over for today" she said, then all the youngsters bowed respectfully to her and left the dojo. She went towards Aang and Katara and hugged them both.

"it's so good to see you! When did you arrive?" she asked energetically.

"a couple of minutes ago" said Katara.

They gave the normal questions as of how they have been. "do you wanna go see Ty Lee?" asked Suki, pointing at the back of the dojo. "of course" replied Aang and Katara simultaneously.

"well, follow me" she said as she started to walk towards the back side of the dojo. Opening a door she reveled the back yard where Ty lee was giving chi blocking lessons to the more advanced students.

Suddenly Ty Lee's eyes widen in surprise as she saw the familiar faces of Katara and Aang. She jumped and made a few back-flips and in no time she was in front of them, applying a bone-crushing jug to both teenagers. "I'm so happy to see you! Your auras look just as bright as always!" she said forgetting abut the class, until a young girl stood up. "master, what about the class?" asked the little girl who wasn't very surprised with her teacher's behavior, as Ty Lee would be distracted very easily at times.

She released Aang and Katara who immediately gasped for air. "you can go home now, but keep practicing" she kindly said to the young ones. Which caused them to leave, not as euphorically as a bunch of normal student would when they are released from class early, Ty Lee's classes were very interesting and fun. The students would just be sad every time it was time to go home.

The students departed, and the four now talked in tranquility sitting on the opened side of the dojo that had a pretty good view of the village.

They talked a lot yet very little time had passed.

"so are you guys gonna stay for a couple of days?" asked Sokka curiously.

"not really, we actually have come here for other reasons, we receive a letter from Zuko, and in it he wrote that he wants the whole team to go to the fire nation." They were somewhat shocked by the comment, they did visited each other from time to time, bu being called could not mean anything good. They remained in silence for a while, yet every one knew what was the path to take. "it will be great to see Mai and Zuko again" said Ty Lee as she smiled to Aang and Katara. Sokka and Suki only looked at each other and smiled, so team avatar gonna be together again" said Sokka. Oddly not bringing up any jokes or sarcasm. (Suki got him calmed there).

"So the only one left is Toph, we should go to Ba Sing Se as soon as possible." said Aang.

"you should, stay the night" pointed Suki to let them see that it was almost sunset. They had talked for far longer than anticipated. "also Appa should rest well, he'll be carrying five tomorrow" she said.

Aang and Katara nodded, and so they departed to the village where they always have a place ready for the avatar.

The sun had already disappeared from the sky. The reunited group marched to the large house where they would pass the night. As they advanced trough the hallways, Ty Lee stopped in front of her room, "good night guys" she said as she entered. wishing her the same the rest of them continued their path. They walked until they reached the room that was reserved for Aang, where both him and Katara stopped, Sokka lift an eyebrow as he saw the situation, and gave a 'what's going on here look' to Aang. There was silence from that moment forward, Aang and Katara's relationship was no secret but it was just that Sokka's big brother's instincts could not let him assimilate the idea of his little sister to be in such a state of a relationship.

Katara broke the silence saying "good night" as her and Aang entered the room. Suki grabbed Sokka's arm an led the surprised warrior to their room. And so each one went to rest to be ready for the journey ahead.

The next morning.

The night was gone as fast as it had come, the group was now loading Appa for their travel to the earth kingdom's capital city. Having already said goodbye the group was now taking off onto the back of the large bison.

The hours flied away as they talked about the many things that they have been trough in the time that they were separated. They laugh at the memory of the horrible times that they had been trough, looking at the most scary of situations as nothing more than a mere joke in the moment.

They flew for two days until they arrived to the sight of Ba Sing Se's walls. As they got closer to the wall, it was a custom for Aang to stare down to see the great zoo he had built years ago, and see how the animals were doing. Much to his surprise, the place was under repair. He saw many earthbenders creating new wall around it. He saw this with confusion and concern, yet the only though that could reach his mind was that some of the large animals caused the damage.

They flew over the city's wall and saw the prosper city below, how happily the people lived now that the war was over.

As they continued the people from below had already realized about their presence. They cheered in their name and the great euphoria could reach their ears even though they were so high in the air.

As they continued to fly, Aang saw the school with Toph's name on it, and knowing that they had arrived he announced it to the rest, and began their descent. They could see the large backyard where they were going to land. And as they landed, Toph could already tell they were there. They got off of Appa's back and after a quick stretch they walked towards her. Seeing many young boys and girls blindfolded, only Aang could possibly know what they were going trough.

"Hi there" saluted Toph as she stood still in front of her students. "Take off your blindfolds, the class is over for today." said Toph. They did as she said and after bowing in front of the superiors the bunch of children made their way to the great front gates of the large dojo.

They had finally arrived to her side, wanting to hug her yet receiving an array of punches on their arms.

"we missed you too Toph" said Aang as he rubbed his forearm.

She had never showed any kind of euphoria over anything before, but this time it was hard to contain it, and a big smile on her face was the proof of it. She had said "hello" to the whole group already, and so now they were talking on the living room that was on the part of the dojo where she lived.

After many topics the expression on Aang's face got serious. It was then that he had decided to tell her about Zuko's letter.

She listened to the request, not being surprised at all the only thing hat she said was "let's get going" she haven't had much fun just by teaching the young lings. So she was expecting something of the sort.

The question arose, "what about your students?" asked Suki, being a teacher herself she knew that the students needed constant practice.

"I got that under control" replied Toph as she gave the group a malevolent smile.

After some minutes they were already getting onto Appa, and as they did a familiar figure approached them, holding two large bags full of vegetables was Haru. The group widened their eyes at the sight of their old friend, as well as to the question of why was he there.

"Where are you going?" asked the confused earthbender. "I'm going to the fire nation for a while, so take care of the students and the school, will you." replied Toph. "let's go" she said to Aang, who just did as she said while giving a 'poor guy' look at Haru which all of the group shared. "by Haru" they said as the large bison took off.

As time passed by the stares of the whole group were upon her, being blind did not meant that she could not feel they stares. "what are you all looking at" she shouted, and suddenly all of them started lo look elsewhere. They knew better than to mingle in Toph's personal life.

Hours passed by and the lowered sun on the horizon had painted the sky orange with it's fading glow. After all those hour of constant flight they finally faced the landscape of the fire nation. Flying above the inactive volcanoes near the shores they kept their trajectory until they saw the familiar sight of the royal palace crowning the sight of the the majestically beautiful royal city.

They had landed on the great back yard, and as they did one of the guards gave the message to one of the servants to tell the firelord.

The team was stretching after the long journey, which was now kind of difficult due to the time that they had without traveling like that.

Little time passed before Zuko appeared. Arriving with Mai, the group quickly gathered in front of them, filling each other with hugs and salutations.

"let's go inside" said Zuko as he pointed the way with hand. The group followed him. After some walking they arrived to a large room where they seated and talked for a long while. Not feeling well Mai excused herself, ad directed herself to her room. "do you want me to go with you" asked Zuko with concern. "no, I'm fine" she replied. Then she continued to walk. Yet Ty Lee, and Katara followed her. Leaving behind. Aang, Zuko and Sokka. Who just continued to talk. Yet this time the aura around them had changed. Now that Mai was away Zuko's expression had changed, he looked at Aang and said. "as you might suppose, I didn't summoned here jut to talk" he said with a serious expression. Taking a piece of scroll from a box that was beside him. Aang nodded, "it must be something very important for you to have called-" he was cut off by Ty Lee who came into the room all of a sudden. "Zuko!, it's may! she is going into labor!" she said all of a sudden. Widening his eyes in shock he stood up and hurried after Ty Lee who led him to his room, where Mai laid in pain.

Having sent servants to search out the necessary items for the arrival of the baby, Katara now was readying herself to deliver the future crown prince, (or princess).

Suddenly the face off all three of the guys turned on a different expression. Zuko's eyes widened and he hurried to Mai's side. Aang put a wide smile on his face, while Sokka turned pale and left the room.

As Katara got all the supplies from the servants, she asked the rest of the group to assist her. Zuko and Aang were holding Mai's hands while Suki, Katara and Ty Lee devoted their attention to her lower side.

Thus beginning the birth and the coming of a new member of their already large family.

Chapter 9 end.

A little fuzzy...i know... well this is however, important for the story, trust me. Well I hope you liked it so you know, what makes me happy, _**REVIEW. (**_and to shouvin sorry about the spoiler mate).

Also sorry for the delay. Well might the all-mighty give us focus to stay on the right path.


	10. lost in nightmares

Chapter 10... oh that was something so sweet to say. Anyways here's the usual. Disclaimer, I do not own Avatar the last air bender, there I said it again, now I'll be bitter for the rest of the day.

Chapter 10.

part 1: La vita nova.

The time had passed and the ordeal was at it's end. Katara now was holding the newborn princess of the fire nation. Having cleaned up the infant and warped her in smooth silk sheets she had passed her to the proud parents who were now holding her with extreme happiness.

The scene was beautiful, everyone was happier than ever (except for Sokka who fainted). They were ready to talk, when there was a mighty explosion that made a large hole in the room's wall, revealing many figures dressed in black clothes and wearing blue oni masks. Rapidly advancing towards the bed using the confusion caused by the explosion, the group of people got a hold of the newborn princess, by swapping her away from her weakened mother's arms. And stabbing Zuko in the shoulder who tried to stop them.

The group quickly stood ready for combat but, the perpetrators had the upper hand. None of them dared to attack for they were using the newborn as a human shield.

"Don't follow us or the child dies" said one of the masked attackers while he took out a dagger which he pointed to the defenseless child, as they made their way to the hole in the wall, one of them said loudly. "We shall return this nation to it's rightful empress, long life Azula!". The man in black said as the their group made their way to a large war-balloon, that took off as fast as they entered it.

"Azula?" exclaimed Aang.

The group saw powerlessly how the war-balloon took flight, they were almost drowning in frustration, when they heard the voice of some one calling. "Aang!" Zuko called, as he got up. Holding his wounded shoulder after having taken out the blade he directed his attention to Mai who was now speechless and with a face full of sadness and frustration.

The hearts of every one were in great grief. Zuko knew in that instant that Azula was plotting something. He stood up and told Katara to take care of Mai. The water bender nodded as she began to nurse her.

After a few minutes, Katara was done taking care of Mai and she began to treat Zuko who could not stop thinking of what had just happened. He looked at Mai and felt a deep pain rooting into his heart.

After some hours everything was just the opposite to the happiness they had felt not so long ago. Zuko was with Mai until the exhaustion made her fall asleep.

The firelord then stood up and told the rest of the group to follow him as he made his way out of the room. They arrived to the library where Zuko started to talk. "I don't know if you have heard about this yet, but Azula has escaped from the asylum, also there have been many incidents, and attempts to dethrone me, which seem to have been orchestrated by her" said Zuko with a distressful tone.

The group reacted with astonished faces, that filled the room with emotions that had not been felt since those horrible times of war. Yet now the ancient horror was rising and making it's way into the hearts of every one there.

Silence and echoes of the outside filled the aura of the place until some one decided to talk.

"but, wasn't she you know... crazy?" asked Toph.

"her mental stability was always questionable, but each of this attacks have been made with extreme caution, fortunately they were unsuccessful, until today..." replied Zuko.

But there's an even greater concern now. A few days ago I received a message from the earth kingdom, they said that Azula and an unknown person destroyed a village.

"but how could she do it?, Aang took her powers away!" asked Katara.

"it wasn't her, it was some one else. He alone defeated a large group of earthbenders and caused all the damage to the town" said Zuko. As he continued to speak the faces of every one in the room changed to an even more serious expression.

He possessed a power beyond anything that the villagers had seen before. He, was able to bend all four of the elements." said Zuko as the visage of the group around him turned into a collective shock expression. "they called him, the wicked avatar..." as he said these last words, the sky let rain fell down and accompanied with thunder. the skies now roared with bright lightning.

"What?... said the group all together.

Part 2: Memories in the rain.

Azula could hear the sound of rain outside of the cave. She was siting next to the bed where Kuzon laid motionless. She remained besides him for hours, keeping a close eye on him. She was paying attention to every last detail of his condition. The smallest sing was taken as the greatest by her, yet she could not keep up with exhaustion, she needed rest. Though she refused to give into sleep, not while he was in such a state.

The hours passed by and she still kept watch over him. Putting pieces of wet fabric from her clothing on his forehead to lower the fever, she was now at more ease to see that he had improved, a little bit.

As she continued to nurse him, the sound the rain outside made her memory drift to past days with him.

_Flashback:_

They had just entered their new "home" it was still in a very rouge condition. The ground and walls were still wet due to the water that had filtrated trough them. There was so much to do. She did not know how to start. "I'm going to fix the floor, please stand back" said Kuzon as he pointed the palms of his hands towards the ground. Immediately the earth beneath them stared to compress and become uniform. She was most impressed, yet she could not understand the nature of his powers. _"this is __impossible" _were the words that filled her head every time he used his abilities. "do you want to rest?" he asked to Azula who was spacing out. She stood silently in the same place for an instant, until she came to herself again. "no I'm fine" she replied.

_End of flashback._

She suddenly came to her senses when she heard Kuzon's voice calling out. "mother" he called in his sleep. He was twitching as if he was uncomfortable, his hands closed in the manner of fists. He was having nightmares. Azula tried to calm him down unsuccessfully, and in his altered state he triggered his powers, causing the cave to shake with his earth bending. Azula did not knew what to do, she was in the verge of panicking, because if he continued the whole cave would collapse on them. Not knowing how to act, the only thing she knew for sure was that she would not abandon him, she was not that person anymore.

Time ran short and only one thing came to her mind. She remembered that dream she had about her mother she remembered how the touch of her hands calmed her sorrow, then she approached her hand to him and gently placed it on his forehead, she started to nuzzle him slowly and gently, and as she continued, he started to calm down.

The stressful moment had passed. Azula was now at ease seeing how he seemed better, though there was something odd. She had not noticed in the moment but her heart was beating rapidly. She was speechless, and as sh removed her hand from him, she felt something strange rooting within her chest, as she looked at him sleeping. And though the time was peaceful the worst had not yet passed, since she had to still nurse him back to heath.

Time and his company was all she had now. She looked at his now peaceful slumber, she saw so many things in his sleeping face. Peace once again came into her mind as she saw the moonlight reflected in the water outside of the cave, during that moment of peace she just continued to remember their days together.

"_flashback"_

laughter could be heard trough the trees. As they talked to each other. The more they talked the more they laugh. She remembered how funny Kuzon could be, he did not even talked about anything or anyone besides of the forest animals that shared the forest with him, and how mischievous they were. Azula laugh like she had not done in for as long as she could remember. For there was not a single memory of a time that she did not laugh at the demise of others. This were actually true laughs coming from within her.

As her memories kept returning at her she remembered Kuzon laughing as well, maybe not because he found what he said funny but because there was some one else there whose happy voice he could hear.

"_end of flashback"_

She couldn't help but to smile at the memory, as her mind came back from her world of days past. Though her happy memories were swept aside by the distressful sound of Kuzon's twitching. The nightmares had once again reached the world of his dreams, though this time he was clearly much more disturbed. "stay away from her!" he screamed. As he once again unconsciously released his power, in the form o gusts of wind, that pushed Azula with a force so great that nearly blew her out of the cave.

She struggled against the wind trying to once more approach him to see if she could calm him down as she had done before. But his nightmares only seemed to be getting worse. He was now violently twisting his body on his bed. The furious movement was accompanied by his power, causing tremors in the whole area. This made Azula loss balance and fall to the ground where she hit her wounded arm. The pain was as sharp as to open a fresh wound, yet she would not desist. She stood up and kept approaching him. Slowly but surely she neared him against the incredible force of his power. "KUZON!" She screamed. Though her voice fell on deaf ears. For he was lost in his nightmares. "KUZON! PLEASE STOP!" Screamed Azula as she walked towards him with extreme difficulty. Her words had once again reached a dead end. For he was given to whatever horror he was seeing. Suddenly he started to float, and placed himself on a vertical position over the wooden bed. "STAY AWAY FROM HER!" he screamed. As he, did the onslaught of the tremors and the wind blew Azula and smashed her to one of the cave's walls.

As the furious gust of wind kept flowing violently trough the cave his blindfold loosened and flew away, revealing his red eyes, though something was different this time. They were filled with anger, hatred and sadness. As Azula stood up from the ground. And as she did, her eyes meet his, she could almost feel his pain trough his stare. she kept moving towards him with only one thing in mind. She would not let him carry such horrible pain on his own anymore.

She approached him, with fierce determination closing the distance between them second by second, suddenly tears started to burst from his eyes, as he suddenly gazed upon Azula, as if she was the being he hated the most in the whole world. Then the air in the cave became hot, and his surroundings were engulfed by flames. Yet Azula continued to approach him, with even more determination. Until she was just a few feet from him, she could feel the intense heat produced by the flames all over her body.

"I WILL KILL YOU!" screamed Kuzon as he directed the flames towards her. She could do little to avoid the blast and her right shoulder and part of her neck were burned by the crimson flames. It hurt like few things had ever hurt her. Yet no pain could make her desist now, the force of the wind could no longer make her lose her ground anymore than the raging earth could bring her down to her knees. She reached with her hand to grab his, and once she did, she pulled his body against hers and hugged him, almost as if she wanted their souls to melt into one so she could take his pain unto her to relieve him of such horror. "you don't need to suffer anymore" she said to him, and as she spoke those words, she could feel him calming down, the wind had stopped blowing and the ground was still once again. But it was not over yet. She could still feel as his tears were still flowing from his eyes.

She felt his pain as if it was her own. And as she did. her eyes filled with tears. As she carried him to her bed, and placed him gently over the leaf mattress. And as she did he spoke in his dreams once more. "mother..." "why?..." "why are you doing this to us?..." "please don't leave me..." "please don't... die..." were the last words that came out of his mouth, before falling into a deep slumber. Once more. Though this time she would not leave his side. She approached her hand towards his, and with great care she held his hand. And sat beside the bed.

Time passed and Kuzon was sleeping peacefully. Such calmness began to tempt Azula into giving into the relentless screams of her body for rest. And so she did. For some time she slept, yet not completely for in her mind, the constant tough of tending to Kuzon was far too concerning to allow her to have an uninterrupted slumber. For hours she continued to rest, tough waking up every few minutes to check on him. And after many hours his fever diminished and he began to sleep peacefully. Seeing this Azula felt a great sense of calmness withing her, and without notice she fell asleep were she was sitting, with her head besides Kuzon's hand.

Hours later the morning sun's light entered the cave. Feeling the morning arise and feeling better yet confused, Kuzon awakened. And in the moment he did he found himself on a comfortable bed. He felt something off and proceeded to touch his face, and to his surprise e didn't had his blindfold. Wondering about the cause for that he continued to search. And as he searched with his hand he felt something warm. He proceeded to touch it only to find out that it was Azula's hair.

Questioning himself about the most recent events with no clear knowledge of what had happened, besides of what his intuition told him. He just laid there for some time without moving, for the only thing he knew was. that it was thanks to her that he was better now.

The moment of uncertainty had now passed. He proceeded to sit on the bed, while being careful not to disturb Azula's sleep, and he proceeded to take a habitual look around the cave, only to find himself in a completely torn place. He then realized that he was coming from Azula's side of the cave, and that he had slept on her bed. He then proceeded to look at his side and found it completely burned and destroyed.

He knew what had happened. It was not the first time. But this time there was some one else with him, and he could never forgive himself if he would had harmed her.

In that very moment, not feeling his hand under hers. Azula had awakened, rising her head and opening her eyes which met his. "you are awake" she said softly. "How do you feel?" she asked as she stood up.

Kuzon's expression turned into one of concern as he talked to her. "what happened?", "are you alright?" he said with a voice that carried the sound of both concern and fear.

"I'm fine" she said as she turned her side on him trying to conceal her burned shoulder.

He continued to look around to their "home", it was a complete mess. All they had worked for was destroyed, so much effort, gone. And all because of him.

"I'm so sorry... I destroyed all we had worked for." he said with an ashamed face as he approached her.

As he became closer to her, she immediately began to react by trying to conceal herself from his sight.

"is something wrong?" he asked concerned.

"no, everything is alright" she answered as she turned completely and began to make her way to the cave's exit.

Realizing that something was not right, Kuzon proceeded to place his hand on her shoulder to ask her once again if something was wrong. And as he did the distressful sound born from the pain of her wound emanated from her unwilling lips. He had now realized what was wrong.

As he saw the fresh burn, he retracted his hand and changed his expression to one of fear.

"I-I did that..." he said as he took some steps back.

"it's alright, you were having a nightmare" she replied. Although her words would not be enough comfort to him. His face was full of fear, regret and shame and his eyes began to fill with tears as he saw the brand of his power labeled onto her skin.

She tried to approach him and let him know that she held no grudge on him, yet he would not cease to review what had just happened in his mind.

Shaking his head slowly side to side, he let out words of regret. "n-no... not again..." he said as he quickly tried to made his way out of the cave, only to have his wrist held by Azula. "you don't have to go, it was just an accident" she said to him. But his regret was such that her words would not reach him. His instinct told him to run away from her, so that he could not harm her again. And so he did. Breaking her grip, he ran into the woods, trying to get as far from Azula as he could.

"Kuzon!" she yield as she saw is figure disappearance amongst the trees. As she lowered her hand she saw his top and blindfold, on the cave's floor, and proceeded to pick them up. "you have done no wrong" she said as she stood looking at the clothes she was now holding. And waiting no more she began to run hoping to reach him before he could go away.

Running after him, only the tough of finding him filled her mind, she would share his torment, for she could no more withstand to let him carry on the bitterness of such a dark past, she knew better that anyone what it was like.

And so she continued to run, guided only by instinct and a fierce determination. She would be besides him no matter what the cost.

_**Chapter 10 [finally] end.**_

I truly do not know who I'm directing this, but thank you if you are still reading this story, and special thanks to **shouvin **thanks for pushing me bub, I really needed it. This one is for you buddy. And to the rest of you I apologize for the.. erm, "delay". But this stands as proof of my intentions to continue my work on this, so long and thanks. Might almighty Enki shines his light over all of us.


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